Democratic talking points, as rehearsed and repeated by the left-wing media, wanted to portray the New York congressional race this past week as a "civil war" among Republicans.

If there's a war on, though, it's probably more akin to the American Revolution.

This goes back to the mid-1990s, when Republican leaders in Washington -- newly installed after the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 -- turned on their own troops. They got fat on Washington power and the Capitol social scene. Their concerns turned away from the people who put them there and toward remaining in power.

Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich was not immune. At one point, angry at colleagues in the House who wanted to maintain a conservative approach to governing, Gingrich derisively called them "you conservatives" and demanded they explain themselves to the Republican caucus. They did -- and the caucus accepted their explanation.

But that was still the quick beginning of the slow end of the Republican heyday in Washington. The end finally came in the elections of 2006 and 2008 -- after years of Bush faux conservatism.

Today, not surprisingly, nearly half of conservatives in America do not identify themselves as Republican in a Rasmussen Reports poll.

That should awaken the powers that be in the Republican Party. The party long ago strayed from its base.

If there's another revolution -- this time in 2010 -- it won't be legitimately called a "Republican" revolution. It will be a conservative one.

Sadly, there's a difference nowadays.